Programme Notes

There are eight pieces in the song cycle, telling a story of a woman’s destiny from her first rapture for her beloved, through engagement, marriage and motherhood, to her husband’s death. Each period has it’s own peculiar expression, if you, as modern listeners could keep with the idea held in the 19th century rather than judging it by today’s standard, you will find Schumann made it possible for you to experience the transformations, the joys and the sorrows of a female psyche. The sarabande-like opening theme of the first piece can be heard once more in the piano postlude in the last song, as if a recollection of former happiness and sadness. A feeling of funeral march is given by a sole piano in this chamber accompaniment arrangement, in contrast to the rich instrumental setting of the opening theme, as if a farewell to his husband and leaving her to the lonely world. Hope you will be transported by a new vision into this music.